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77hs Special Student'* Edition of "The
Initiates of the Flame" is dedicated by
the author to the One Thousand Students
of the Classes of 1 922, and is limited to
one thousand copies of which this one is
Number.
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The
INITIATES
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FULLY ILLUSTRATED
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Copyrighted, October, 1922
All rights reserved
Permission to copy or translate may be secured
upon application
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CONTENTS
Page
Introduction 7
Foreword 13
Chapter One
The Fire Upon the Altar 15
Chapter Two
The Sacred City of Shamballa.... 25
Chapter Three
The Mystery of the Alchemist 35
Chapter Four
The Egyptian Initiate.. 45
Chapter Five
The Ark of the Covenant 55
Chapter Six
The Knights of the Holy Grail 63
Chapter Seven
The Mystery of the Pyramids 73
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ILLUSTRATIONS
Page
The Cube Altar 14
The Everburning Lamp . ...... 16
The Masonic Censor.... 18
The Grave Digger's Spade 20
The Candle . . J. 22
The Lotus ..., :................ 28
The Rod That Budded .. ....... 30
The Philosopher's Stone 34
The Five Pointed Star 38
The Marriage of the Sun and Moon....... 40
The Pillars of the Temple..... 42
The Serpent 44
The Masonic Apron 46
The Scepters of Egypt... 48
The Sacred Scarab 50
The Priest before the Ark of the Covenant 54
The Rod that Budded, the Pot of Manna, and the
Tablets of the Law 58
5
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ILLUSTRATIONS
(Continued)
Page
The Holy Grail 62
The Stone and the Sword 64
The Rosicrucian Rose 66
The Sacred Spear 68
Cross Section of the Great Pyramid of Gizah 74
The Pyramid 76
The Sphinx 78
The Key and the Cross 82
The White Grail 86
The Black Grail 87
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The Initiates of the Flame
INTRODUCTION
Few realize that even at the present stage of civil-
ization in this world, there are souls who, like the
priests of the ancient temples, walk the earth and
watch and guard the sacred fires that burn upon the
altar of humanity. Purified ones they are, who have
renounced the life of this sphere in order to guard and
protect the Flame, that spiritual principle in man, now
hidden beneath the ruins of his fallen temple.
As we think of the nations that are past, of Greece
and Rome and the grandeur that was Egypt's, we sigh
as we recall the story of their fall; and we watch the
nations of today, not knowing which will be the next to
draw its shroud around itself and join that great
ghostly file of peoples that are dead.
But everywhere, even in the rise and fall of nations,
we see through the haze of materiality, justice; every-
where we see reward, not of man but of the invincible
One, the sternal Flame.
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A great hand reaches out from the unseen and regu-
lates the affairs of man. It reaches out from that great
spiritual Flame which nourishes all created things, the
never dying fire that burns on the sacred altar of
Cosmos — that great fire which is the spirit of God.
If we turn again to the races now dead, we shall, if
we look, find the cause of their destruction. The light
had gone out. When the flame within the body is with-
drawn, the body is dead. When the light was taken
from the altar, the temple was no longer the dwelling
place of a living God.
Degeneracy, lust, and passion, hates and fears, crept
into the souls of Greece and Rome, and Black Magic
overshadowed Egypt; the light upon the altar grew
weaker and weaker. The priests lost the Word, the
name of the Flame. Little by little the Flame flickered
out, and as the last spark grew cold, a mighty nation
died, buried beneath the dead ashes of its own spiritual
fire.
But the Flame did not die. Like spirit of which it is
the essence, it cannot die, because it is life, and life
cannot cease to be. In some wilderness of land or sea
it rested once again, and there rose a mighty nation
around that flame. So history goes on through the
ages. As long as a people are true to the Flame, it
remains, but when they cease to nourish it with their
lives, it goes on to other lands and other worlds.
Those who worship this Flame are now called
heathens. Little do we realize that we are heathen
ourselves until we are baptised of the Holy Spirit,
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which is Fire, for fire is Light, and the children of the
Flame are the Sons of Light, even as God is Light.
There are those who have for ages labored with man
to help him to kindle within himself this spark, which
is his divine birthright. It is these who by their lives
of self-sacrifice and service have awakened and tended
this fire, and who through ages of study have learned
the mystery it contained, that we now call the "Initiates
of the Flame.,,
For ages they have labored with mankind to help him
to uncover the light within himself, and on the pages
of history they have left their seal, the seal of Fire.
Unhonored and unsung they have labored with
humanity, and now their lives are used as fairy stories
to amuse children, but the time will yet come when the
world shall know the work they did, and realize that
our present civilization is raised upon the shoulders of
the mighty demigods of the past. We stand as Faust
stood, with all our lore, a fool no wiser than before,
because we refuse to take the truths they gave us and
the evidence of their experiences. Let us honor these
Sons of the Flame, not by words, but by so living that
their sacrifice shall not/BeGn vain. They have shown
us the way, they have led man to the gateway of the
unknown, and there in their robes of glory passed be-
hind the Veil. Their lives were the key to their wisdom,
as it must always be. They have gone, but in history
they stand, milestones on the road of human progress.
Let us watch these mighty ones as they pass silently
by. First, Orpheus, playing upon the seven stringed
lyre of his own being, the music of the spheres. Then
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Hermes, the thrice greatest, with his emerald tablet of
divine revelation. Through the shades of the past we
dimly see Krishna, the illuminated, who on the battle-
field of life taught man the mysteries of his own soul.
Then we see the sublime Buddha, his yellow robe not
half so glorious as the heart it covered, and our own
dear Master, the man Jesus, his head surrounded with
a halo of Golden Flame, and his brow serene with the
calm of mastery. Then Mohammed, Zoroaster, Confu-
cius, Odin, and Moses, and others no less worthy pass
by before the eyes of the student. They were the Sons
of Flame. From the Flame they came, and to the
Flame they have returned. To us they beckon, and bid
us join them, and in our robes of self -earned glory to
serve the Flame they love.
They were without creed or clan ; they served but the
one great ideal. From the same place they all came,
and to the same place they have returned. There was
no superiority there. Hand in hand they labor for
humanity. Each loves the other, for the power that
has made them masters has shown them the Brother-
hood of all life.
In the pages that follow we will try to show this great
thread, the spiritual thread, the thread of living fire
that winds in and out through all religions and binds
them together with a mutual ideal and mutual needs.
In the story of the Grail and the Legends of King
Arthur we find that thread wound around the Table of
the King and the Temple of Mount Salvart. This same
thread of life that passes through the roses of the
Rosicrucians, winds among the pedals of the Lotus, and
among the temple pillars of Luxor. THERE IS BUT
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ONE RELIGION IN ALL THE WORLD, and that is
the worship of God, the spiritual Flame of the universe.
Under many names He is known in all lands, but as
Iswari or Ammon or God, He is the same, the Creator
of the universe, and fire is His universal symbol.
We are the Flame-Born Sons of God, thrown out as
sparks from the wheels of the infinite. Around this
Flame we have built forms which have hidden our light,
but as students we are increasing this light by love and
service, until it shall again proclaim us Suns of the
Eternal.
Within us burns that Flame, and before Its altar the
lower man must bow, a faithful servant of the Higher.
When he serves the Flame he grows, and the light
grows until he takes his place with the true Initiates of
the universe, those who have given all to the Infinite,
in the name of the Flame within.
Let us find this Flame and also serve it, realizing that
it is in all created things, that all are one because all
are part of that eternal Flame, the fire of spirit, the life
and power of the universe.
Upon the altar of this Flame, to the true creator of
this book, the writer offers it, and dedicate^it to the one
Fire which blazes forth from God, and is now hidden
within each living thing.
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FOREWORD
77/£ GREATEST OF MYSTERY SCHOOLS
The World is the schoolroom of God. Our being in
school does not make us learn, but within that school is the
opportunity for all learning. It has its grades and its
classes, its sciences and its arts, and admission to it is the
birthright of man. Its graduates are its teachers, its pupils
are all created things. Its examples are Nature, and its
rules are God's laws. Those who would go into the greater
colleges and universities must first, day by day, and year
by year, work through the common school of life, and
present to their new teachers the diplomas they have won,
upon which is zvritten the name that none may read save
those who have received it.
The hours may seem long, and the teachers cruel, but
each of us must walk that path, and the only ones ready to
go onward are those zvho have passed through the gateway
of experience^
GOD'S GREAT SCHOOL FOR MAN.
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Cube Altar:
Of the elements of the earth is this altar composed.
It is the great cube of matter. On or in this altar bums
a Flame. It is this Flame that is the spirit of all created
things. Man, know thyself. Thou art the Flame, and
thy bodies are the living altar.
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Initiates
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CHAPTER I.
THE FIRE UPON THE ALTAR
As far back as our history goes we find that fire has
played an important part in the religious ceremonial of
the human race. In practically every religion we find
the sacred altar fires, which were guarded by the
priests and vestals with greater care than their own
lives. In the Bible we find many references made to
the sacred fires which were used as one form of devo-
tion by the ancient Israelites. The Altar of Burnt Offer-
ings is as old as the human race, and dates from the
time when the first man, lifting himself out of the
mists of ancient Lemuria, first saw the sun, the great
Fire Spirit of the universe. Among the followers of
Zoroaster, the Persian Initiate, fire has been used for
centuries in honor of the great Fire God, Ormuzd, who
is said by them to have created the universe.
There are two paths or divisions of humanity whose
history is closely related to that of the Wisdom Teach-
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The Everburning Lamp:
Know that the Flame that burns within thee and
lights thy way is the ever burning lamp of the ancients.
As their lamps were fed by the purest of oil, so thy
spiritual Flame must be fed by a life of purity and
altruism.
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The Fire Upon the Altar
ings. They embody the doctrines of fire and water, the
two opposites of nature. Those who follow the path of
faith or the heart, use water, and are known as the
Sons of Seth, while those who follow the path of the
mind and action are the Children of Cain, who was the
son of Samael, the Spirit of Fire. Today we find the
latter among the alchemists, the hermetic philosophers,
the Rosicrucians, and the Freemasons.
It is well for us to understand that we ourselves are
the cube altar upon which and in which burns the altar
fire. For many centuries the Initiate of fire has been
nourishing and guarding the Spiritual Flame within
himself, as the ancient priests watched day and night
the altar fires of Vesta's temple.
The ever burning lamp of the alchemist, which hav-
ing burned thousands of years without fuel in the cata-
combs of Rome, is but a symbol of this same spiritual
fire within himself. In the picture we see the ever
burning lamp which was carried by the Initiate in his
wandering. It represents the spinal column of man, at (
the top of which is flickering a little blue and red flame, k
As the lamp of the ancients was fed and kept burning by
the purest of olive oil, so man is transmiting within
himself and cleansing in the laver of purification the
life essences, which, when turned upward, provide fuel
for the ever burning lamp within himself.
Upon the altars of the ancients were offered sacri-
fices to their gods. The ancient Hierophant offered up
sacrifices of spices and incense. The Masonic brother of
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Masonic Censor:
As the perfume rising from the incense burner was
acceptable in the sight of the Lord, so may our words
and actions ever be a sweet incense acceptable in the
sight of the Most High.
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The Fire Upon the Altar
today still has among his symbols the incense burner
or censer, but few of the brothers recognize them-
selves in this symbol. The ancients symbolized under
such things as this the development of the individual,
and as the tiny spark burning among the incense cubes
slowly consumes all, so the Spiritual Flame within the
student is slowly burning away and transmuting the
base metals and properties within himself, and offering
up the essence thereof as the smoke upon the altar of
Divinity. It is said that King Solomon, when he com-
pleted his temple, offered bulls as a sacrifice to the Lord,
by burning them upon the temple altar. Those who
believe in a harmless life wonder why so many refer-
ences are made in the Bible to animal sacrifice.
The student realizes that the animal sacrifices are
those of the celestial zodiac, and that when the Ram or
the Bull was offered upon the altar, it represented the
qualities in man which come through Aries, the celes-
tial Ram, and Taurus, the Bull in the zodiac. In other-
words, the Initiate, passing through his tests and puri-
fication, is offering upon the altar of his own higher
being the lower animal instincts and desires within
himself. Among the Masonic brothers we also find
what is called the Symbol of Mortality. It is a spade, a
coffin, and an open grave, while upon the coffin has been
laid a sprig of acacia, or evergreen. In the picture
we see the spade of the grave digger, which has been
considered the symbol of death for centuries.
In the Book of Thoth, that strange document which
has descended to man at his present stage of evolution
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Grave Digger's Spade:
Let us take the spade that now digs our grave
through the passions and emotions of life and use it to
unearth the secret room far below the rubbish of the
fallen temple of the human soul.
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77z<? FzVe Upon the Altar
as a deck of playing cards, we find a very wonderful
symbolism. Of all the suits of cards, that of the spade
is the only suit in which all the court cards face away
from the pip. In all the other kings and queens, the
faces are looking at the little marker in the corner of
the card, but in the spade suit, they look away from it.
Now it is said that the spade has been taken from the
acorn, but the occult student has a different idea. He
sees in the spade, which has for ages been the symbol
of death, a certain part of his own anatomy. If you will
again turn to the picture of the spade, you will see, if
you have ever studied anatomy, that the grave digger's
spade is the spinal column, and the spade-shaped piece
which is used on the deck of cards, is nothing more nor
less than the sacrum bone.
This bone forms the base of the spinal column, and is
also the spear of the Passion. Through it and the
foramana which pierce it, pass the roots of the spinal
nerve, which indeed are the roots of the Tree of Life.
It is the center through which are nourisned and fed
the lower verterbrae of the spine, and the sacrum and
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The Initiates of the Flame
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The Candle:
This is the light that has gone out. It is the candle
that is hidden under the bushel. This is the true light
that forever dispels the darkness of ignorance and un-
certainty. Let the light shine forth through a purified
body and a balanced mind. For this light is the life of
our brother creatures.
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The Fire Upon the A Itar
coxygeal bones that dig the graves for all created
things. This point has been beautifully symbolized by
the grave digger's spade, which has been used by the
brothers of many mystic organizations for ages. The
currents and forces working through these lower spinal
nerves must be transmuted and lifted upward to feed
the altar fire at the positive or upper end of the spine.
The centering of thought or emotion upon higher or
lower things, as the case may be, determines where
this life energy will be expended. If the lower emotions
predominate, the flame upon the altar burns low and
flickers out, because the forces which feed it have been
concentrated upon the lower centers. But when altru-
ism predominates, then the lower forces are raised up-
ward and pass through the purification which makes
possible their being used as fuel for the ever burning
lamp. Thus we see why it was a great sin to let the
lamp go out, for the pillar of flames which hovers over
the Tabernacle, purified and prepared after the direc-
tions of the Most High, is the Spiritual Flame that,
hovering above man, lights his way wherever he may
go.
The sun of our solar system, that is, the Spiritual
Sun behind the physical globe, is one of these Flames.
It began no greater than ours, and through the power
of attraction and the transmuting of its ever increasing
energies it has reached its present proportions. This
flame in man is the "light that shineth in darkness."
It is the Spiritual Flame within himself. It lights his
way as no exterior light can. This radiating out from
him brings into view, one by one, the hidden things of
23
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The Initiates of the Flame
the cosmos, and his ignorance is dispelled in exactly
the same proportion as his light is spread, for the dark-
ness of the unknown can only be removed by light, and
the greater the light, the further back the darkness is
driven. This is the Lamp of the Philosopher, which he
carries through the dark passageways of life, and by
the light of which he walks among the stones and along
the narrow cliff edge without fear. But although he
gain all other things and have not this light within
himself, he cannot know where he goes; he cannot
watch his footsteps ; and he cannot dispel his ignorance
with the light of truth.
Therefore let each student watch the fire that bums
upon his altar. Let him also make that altar, his body,
as beautiful and harmonious as possible, and let him
also sacrifice upon that altar the frankincense and
myrrh, his actions and his deeds. As in the Tabernacle
he offers all upon the altar of divinity, so let him day
by day dispel the symbols of mortality — the coffin and
the open grave by which he prepared himself through
the mastery of the lower emotions within himself —
and recognize that no matter how crystallized or dead
his life may be, the fact that he exists at all proves
that the sprig of acacia, the promise of life and immor-
tality, is somewhere within himself; and although the
flame of life may appear faint or cold, if he will supply
the fuel by his daily actions, he will kindle the altar
flame once more within himself, which, shining forth,
will also help his brother to kindle this flame, which is
a living sacrifice to the living God.
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Initiates
of the Flame
CHAPTER II.
THE SACRED CITY OF SHAMBALLA
In every mythology and legendary religion of the
world there is one spot that is sacred above all others
to the great ideal of that religion. To the Norseman it
was Valhalla, the City of the Slain, built of the spears
of heroes, where feasting and warfare was the order of
the day. Here the heroes fought all day and reveled
by night. Every day they killed the wild boar and
feasted on it, and the next day it came to life again.
In the Northland they tell that Valhalla was high on
the top of the mountains, and that it was connected to
the earth below by Befrost, the Rainbow Bridge; that
up and down this bridge the Gods came, and Odin, the
All-father, came down from Asgard, the City of the
Gods, and worked and labored with mankind.
Among the Greeks, Mount Olympus was held sacred,
and here the gods are said to have lived high on the
top of a mountain. The Knights of the Grail are said
to have had their castle among the crags and peaks of
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The Initiates of the Flame
Northern Spain on Mount Salvart. In every religion of
the world there is a sacred spot: Meru of the oriental,
and Mount Moriah and Mount Sinai (upon which the
tablets of law were given to man) ; all those are symbols
of one universal ideal, and as each of these religions
claimed among the clouds a castle and a home, so it is
said that all the religions of the world have their head-
quarters in Shamballa, the Sacred City in the Gobi
Desert of Mongolia.
Among the oriental peoples there are wonderful
legends of this sacred city, where it is said the Great
White Lodge or Brotherhood meets to carry on the
governing of world affairs. As the Assirs of Scanda-
navia were twelve in number, as Olympus had twelve
gods, so the Great White Brotherhood is said to have
twelve members, which meet in Shamballa and direct
the affairs of men. It is said that this center of uni-
versal religion descended upon the earth when the
polar cap, which was the first part of the earth to
crystallize, became solid enough to support life.
Science now knows that not only does the earth have
two motions, that of rotation upon its axis and revolu-
tion around the sun, but that it has nine other motions,
according to Flammarion, the French astronomer.
One of these motions is that of the alternation of the
poles ; in other words, some day that part of the earth's
surface which is now the North Pole will become the
South Pole. Therefore it is said that the Sacred City
has left its central position and after much wandering
is now located in Mongolia.
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r/z^ Sacred City of Shamballa
Those who are acquainted with the Mohammedan
religion will see something of great interest in the pil-
grimage to the Kabba at Mecca, where thousands go
each year to give honor to the Stone of Abraham, the
great aerolight, upon which Mohammed is said to have
rested his foot. Old and young alike, some even car-
ried, wind through desert sands and endure untold
hardships, many coming from great distances, to visit
the place they cherish and love. In India we find the
same thing. There are many sacred places to which
pilgrims go, even as the Templars went in our Chris-
tian religion to the Sepulcher of Christ. Few see in
this anything more than an outward symbol, but the
true student recognizes the great esoteric truth con-
tained therein. The spiritual consciousness in man is
a pilgrim on the way to Mecca. As this consciousness
passes upward through the centers and nerves of the
body, it is like the pilgrim, climbing the heights of
Sinai, or the Knight of the Grail returning to Mount
Salvart.
When the spinal fire of man starts upward in its
wanderings, it stops at many shrines and visits many
holy places, for like the Masonic brother and his Jacob's
Ladder, the way that leads to heaven is upward and
inward. The spinal fire goes through the centers or
seed ground of many great principles, and worships at
the shrine of many Divine Essences within itself, but
it is eternally going upward, and finally it reaches the
great desert. Only after pain and suffering and long
labor does it cross that waste of sand. This is the
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Lotus:
May your consciousness be lifted upward through the
Tree of Life within yourself until in the brain it blos-
soms forth as the Lotus, that rising from the darkness
of the lower world, lifts its flow.er to catch the rays of
the Sun.
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The Sacred City of Shamballa ■
Gethsemane of the higher man, but finally he crosses
the sacred desert, and before him in the heart of the
Lotus rises the Golden City, Shamballa.
FRONT/AL SI NUS
In the spreading of the bone between the eyes called
the frontal sinus, is the seat of the divine in man.
There, in a peculiar gaseous material, floats, or rather
exists, or is, the fine essence which we know as the
Spirit. This is the Lost City in the Sacred Desert,
connected to the lower world by the Rainbow Bridge,
or the Silver Cord, and it is to this point in himself
that the student is striving to rise. This is the Sacred
Pilgrimage of the Soul, in which the individual leaves
the lower man and the world below and climbs upward
into the Higher Man or Higher World, the brain. This
is the great pilgrimage to Shamballa, and as that great
city is the center for the direction of our earth, so the
corresponding great city in man is the center for his
governmental system.
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Rod That Budded :
The buds in the Rod are the seven centers within
yourself, which when you develop their spiritual powers
shine out as centers of fire within your own being. The
ancients have taken flowers to symbolize these centers,
which when they shine out show that the dead stick,
cut from the Tree of Life, has budded.
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30
The Sacred City of Shamballa
When any other thing governs man, he is not attuned
to his own higher self, and it is only when the gods,
representing the higher principle, come down the Rain-
bow Bridge and labor with him, teaching him the arts
and sciences, that he is truly receiving his divine birth-
right. In the Orient the student looks forward with
eager longing to the time when he shall be allowed to
worship before the gates of the sacred city; when he
also shall see the Initiates in silent conclave around
the circular table of the zodiac; when the veil of Isis
shall be torn away, and the cover lifted from the Grail
Cup.
U
Let the student remember that all of these things
must first happen within himself before he can find
them in the universe without. The twelve Elder
Brothers within himself must first be reached and un-
derstood before those of the universe can be compre-
hended. If he would find the great Initiates without,
he must first find them within; and if he would see
that Sacred City in the Lotus Blossom, he must first
open that Lotus within himself, which he does, petal
by petal, when he purifies and attunes himself to the
higher principles within. The Lotus is the spinal col-
umn once more ; its roots, deep in materiality ; its blos-
som, the brain ; and only when he sends upward nour-
ishment and power, can that Lotus blossom within
himself — blossom forth with its many petals, giving
out their spiritual fragrance.
Sometimes you will see in store windows funny little
Chinese gods or oriental Buddhas sitting on the blossom
31
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77&e Initiates of the Flame
of a lotus. In fact, if you look carefully, you will find
that nearly all of the oriental gods are so depicted.
This means that they have opened within themselves
that Spiritual Consciousness which they call the Shu-
shuma. You have seen the funny little hats worn by
the Hindu gods. They are made to represent a flower
upside down, and once more, like the rod of Aaron that
budded, we see the reference made to the unfolding of
consciousness within. When the lotus blossom has
reached maturity, it drops its seed, and from this seed
new plants are produced. It is the same within the
spiritual consciousness, which, when the plant is fin-
ished and its work is done, is released to work and
produce other things.
In the Western World the lotus has been changed
to the rose. The roses of the Rosicrucian, the roses
of the Masonic degrees, and also those of the Order
of the Garter in England, all stand for the same thing,
the awakening of consciousness and the unfolding into
full bloom of the soul qualities of man. When man
awakens and opens this bud within himself, he finds,
like the gold pollen in a flower, this wonderful spiritual
city, Shamballa, in the heart of the lotus. When this
pilgrimage of his spiritual fire is accomplished, he is
liberated from the top of the mountain, as in the ascen-
sion of Christ, and the spiritual man, freed by his pil-
grimage from the Wheel of Bondage, rises upward
from among his disciples, the convolutions of the brain,
with the great cry of the Initiate, which has sounded
through the Mystery Schools for ages when the puri-
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The Sacred City of Shamballa
fied student goes onward and upward to become a pillar
in the temple of his God. With that last cry the true
mystery of Shamballa, the sacred city, is understood
and he joins the ranks of those who in white robes of
purity, their own soul bodies, gaze down upon the world
and see others liberated in the same way, and who also
sound the eternal tocsin, "consumatum est" (it is
finished).
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Philosopher's Stone:
This is the true stone of the philosopher, which gives
him power over all created things. This stone is him-
self. The experiences of his evolution have cut and
polished the rough stone until in the Initiate it reflects
the light of creation from a thousand different facets.
tfi
34
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tfl' '@»= -»Er1
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Initiates
of trie Flame
chapter in.
THE MYSTERY OF THE ALCHEMIST
There are very few occult students today who have
not heard of the alchemist, but there are very few
who know anything about the strange men who lived
during the Middle Ages and concealed under chemical
symbolism the history of the soul. At a time, when
to express a religious thought was to court annihila-
tion at the stake or wheel, they labored silently in
underground caves and cellars to learn the mysteries
of nature which the religious opinions of their day
denied them the privilege of doing. Let us picture the
alchemist of old, deep in the study of natural lore.
We find him among the test tubes and retorts of his
hidden laboratory. Around him are massive tomes and
books by ancient writers; he is a student of nature's
mystery, and has devoted years, lives maybe, to the
work he loves. His hair has long since grayed with
age.
By the light of his little lanm he reads slowly and
with difficulty the strange symbols on the pages before
EH' =©■ »B
35
77ze Initiates of the Flame
him. His mind is centered upon one thing, and that
is the finding of the Philosopher's Stone. With all the
chemicals at his command, their various combinations
thoroughly understood, he is laboring with his furnace
and his burners to make of the base metals the Philoso-
pher's Gold. At last he finds the key and gives to the
world the secret of the Philosopher's Gold and the
Immortal Stone. Salt, sulphur, and mercury are the
answer to his problem ; from them he makes the Phil-
osopher's Stone; from them he extracts the Elixir of ^
Life ; with the power that they give him he transmutes
the base metals into gold. The world laughs at him,
but he goes on in silence, really doing the things the
world believes impossible. ^
After many years of labor he takes his little lamp
and silently slips away into the Great Unknown. No
one knows what he has done, or the discoveries that
he has made, but he, with his little lamp, still explores
the mysteries of the universe. As the close of the fif-
teenth century clouded him with mystery, so the dawn
of the twentieth century is crowning him with the
glory of his just reward, for the world is beginning
to realize the truths he knew, and to marvel at the
understanding which his years of labor had earned
for him.
Man has been an alchemist from the time when he
first raised himself, and with the powers long latent
pronounced himself as human. Experiences are the
chemicals of life which the philosopher is experiment-
ffl1 'Q^ ^Bi
36
The Mystery of the Alchemist
ing with. Nature is the great book whose secrets he
seeks to understand through her own wondrous sym-
bolism. His own Spiritual Flame is the lamp by which
he reads, and without this the printed pages mean
nothing to him. His own body is the furnace in which
he prepares the Philosopher's Stone; his senses and
organs are the test tubes, and incentive is the flame
from the burner. Salt, sulphur, and mercury are the
chemicals of his craft. According to the ancient phil-
osophers, salt was of the earth earthy, sulphur was a
fire which was spirit, while mercury was nothing, only
a messenger like the winged Hermes of the Greeks.
His color is purple, which is the blending of the red
and the blue — the blue of the spirit and the red of
the body.
The alchemist realizes that he himself is the Phil-
osopher's Stone, and that this stone is made diamond-
like when the salt and the sulphur, or the spirit and
the body, are united thorugh mercury, the link of
mind. Man is the incarnated principle of mind as the
animal is of emotion. He stands with one foot on the
heavens and the other on the earth. His higher being
is lifted to the celestial spheres, but the lower man
ties him to matter. Now the philosopher, building his
sacred stone, is doing so by harmonizing his spirit and
his body. The result is the Philosopher's Stone. The
hard knocks of life chip it away and facet it until it
reflects lights from a million different angles.
The Elixir of Life is once again the Spirit Fire, or
rather the fuel which nourishes that fire, and the turn-
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77z<? Initiates of the Flame
The Five Pointed Star:
This picture, known to all Masons, is that of the Soul.
It is the Star of Bethlehem, which heralds the coming
of the Christ within. The two clasped hands are the
spirit and body united in the marriage of the Lamb.
It is from the union of the higher with the lower that
the Christ is bom.
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38
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The Mystery of the Alchemist
ing of the base metal into gold is accomplished when
he transmutes the lower man into spiritual gold. This
he does by study and love. Thus he is building within
himself the lost panacea for the world's woe. The
turning of the base metal into gold can be called a
literal fact, as the same chemical combination which
spiritually produces gold, will also do this physically.
It is a known fact that many of the ancient alchemists
really did create the precious metal out of lead, alloy,
etc. But it was upon the principle that all things con-
tain some part of everything else; in other words,
every grain of sand or drop of water has in some pro-
portion every element of the universe therein. There-
fore the alchemist did not try to make something from
nothing, but rather to extract and build that which
already was, and this the student knows is the only
possible course of procedure.
Man can create nothing from nothing, but he does
contain within, in potential energy, all things ; and like
the alchemist with his metals, he is simply working
with that which he already has. The living Philoso-
pher's Stone is a very beautiful thing. Indeed, like
the fire opal, it shines with a million different lights,
changing with the mood of the wearer. The transmut-
ing process, whereby the spiritual fire passing through
the furnace of purification radiates from the body as
the soul body of gold and blue, is a very beautiful one.
The Masons have among their symbols that of a
five-pointed star with two clasped hands within it, and
33' i@i 1 Eg
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Marriage of the Sun and Moon :
This takes place in man when the heart and mind
are joined in eternal union. It occurs when the positive
and negative poles within are united, and from that
union is made the Philosopher's Stone.
S
S>
40
'all 1Q1 ==ig
T/?<? Mystery of the Alchemist
in that we have the mystery of the Philosopher's Stone.
The clasped hands represent the united man in which
the higher and the lower are working for their mutual
betterment, by a co-operative rather than a competitive
system. The five-pointed star is the soul body, born of
this co-operation; it is the living Philosopher's Stone,
more precious than all the jewels of earth. From it
pour the rivers of life spoken of in the Bible ; it is the
Star of the Morning that heralds the dawn of Mastery,
and is the reward that comes to those who follow in
the footsteps of the ancient alchemist.
It is well for the student to realize that the alchemy
of life produces in natural sequence all of the states of
progression which are explained in the writings of the
alchemist, until finally the sun and the moon are united
as described in the Hermetic Marriage, which is, in
truth, the marriage of the body and the spirit for the
mutual development of each other. We are the alchem-
ists who centuries ago carried on in secret our studies
of the soul, and we still have the same opportunity
that we had then, even more than then, for now we
can state our opinions with little danger of personal
injury. The modern alchemist thus has an opportunity
that his ancient brother never had. On a busy street
corner he daily sees nature's experiments carried on.
He sees the mixing of metals, and from the every-day
book of life, through the power of analogy, he may
study Divinity. Through experience and often suffer-
ing the steel of his spirit is tempered by the flame of
life. As the moon in the zodiac touches off like a fuse
B1 'Q1 — >B
41
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IK NL
tfi
77z£ Initiates of the Flame
0 P
The Pillars of the Temple:
These pillars symbolize the heart and mind, the posi-
tive and the negative poles of life. Those who would
enter the temple must pass BETWEEN the pillars.
Every extreme is dangerous. It is the point between
all poles that is safe to stand upon. You cannot enter
the temple by the development of either the heart or
mind alone, but only by the equal development of both.
tfi
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77z<? Mystery of the Alchemist
the happenings of life, so his own desires and wishes
touch off the powers of his soul, and the experiences
may be transmuted into soul qualities when he has
developed the eye which enables him to read the sim-
plest of all books — everyday life.
The alchemist of today is not hidden in caves and
cellars, studying alone, but as he goes on with his work,
it is seen that walls are built around him, and while he
is in the world, like the master of old, he is not of it.
As he goes further in his work, the light of other peo-
ple's advice and outside help grows weaker and weaker,
until finally he stands alone in darkness, and then
comes the time that he must use his own lamp, and
the various experiments which he has carried on must
be his guide. He must take the Elixir of Life which
he has developed and with it fill the lamp of his spir-
itual consciousness, and holding that above his head,
walk into the Great Unknown, where if he has been a
good and faithful servant, he will learn of the alchemy
of Divinity. Where now test tubes and bottles are his
implements, then worlds and globes he will study, and
as a silent watcher will learn from that Divine One,
who is the Great Alchemist of all the universe, the
greatest alchemy of all, the creation of life, the main-
tenance of form, and the building of worlds.
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43
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The Serpent:
This is the serpent crown of the ancient Gods. It
shows that the two paths or parts of the spirit fire
have been united. This crown is the symbol of mastery
and the union takes place within the student when the
life forces are lifted to the brain.
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Initiates
of the Flame
CHAPTER IV.
THE EGYPTIAN INITIATE
Many ages have elapsed since the Egyptian Priest
King passed through the pillars of Thebes. Ages be-
fore the sinking of Atlantis, thousands of years before
the Christian Era, Egypt was a land of great truths.
The hand of the Great White Brotherhood was held
out to the Empire of the Nile, and the ancient pyramid
passages resounded with the chants of the Initiates.
It was then that the Pharaoh, now called half -human,
half-divine, reigned in ancient Egypt. Pharaoh is the
Egyptian word for king. Many of the later Pharaohs
were degenerate and of little account. It is only the
early Pharaohs we now list among the Priest Kings.
Try to picture for a moment the great Hall of Luxor
— its inscriptive columns holding up domes of solid
granite, each column carved with the histories of the
gods. There at the upper end of the chamber sat the
Pharaoh of the Nile in his robes of state ; around him
his counsellors, chief among them the priest of the
33' 'Qc — 'E
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nOc
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Masonic Apron:
In the triangle we see spirit descending into the
square of matter. Let us so purify matter that spirit
may shine through it and make of us lights to guide
the footsteps of humanity.
y^
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46
SI1 iQi- =nj
r/z^ Egyptian Initiate
temple. An imposing spectacle it was: the gigantic
frame of the later Atlantean, robed in gold and price-
less jewels; on his head the crown of the North and
South, the double empire of the ancient; on his fore-
head the coiled serpent of the Initiate, the serpent
which was raised in the wilderness that all who looked
upon it might live ; that sleeping serpent power in man,
which coiled head downward around the tree of life,
drove him from the garden of the Lord, but which
raised upon the Cross, became the symbol of the Christ.
The Pharaoh was an Initiate of Scorpio, and the
serpent is the transmuted Scorpio energy, which work-
ing upward in the regenerated individual is called the
Kundalini. This serpent was the sign of Initiation. It
meant that within him the serpent had been raised, for
the true Pharaoh was a priest of God, as well as a mas-
ter of men. There he sat upon the cube altar throne,
indicating his mastery over the four elements of his
physical body — a judge of the living and of the dead,
who in spite of all his power and glory, having about
him the grandeur of the world's greatest empire, still
bowed in humble supplication to the will of the gods.
In his hands he carries the triple sceptre of the Nile,
the Shepherd's Crook, the Anubis-headed Staff and the
Flail or Whip. These were the symbols of his work.
They represent the powers which he had mastered.
With the whip he had subjugated his physical body;
with the Shepherd's Crook he was the guardian and
keeper of his emotional body ; with the Anubis-headed
Staff he was master of his mind and worthy to wield
SI1 '@l — 'Si
47
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Sceptres of Egypt:
These are the three bodies that are the tools with
which we are to build our temple. When they are mas-
tered they are the living proof of our right to kingship.
tfi
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48
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The Egyptian Initiate
the powers of government over others, because, first of
all, he obeyed the laws himself.
With all his robes of state and with the scarab
upon his breast, and with the All-seeing Eye above his
throne, there was still nothing as precious or as sacred
to the ancient Egyptian Priest King as the triangular
girdle or apron which was the symbol of his initiation.
The apron of the ancient Egyptian carried with it the
same symbolism as the Masonic apron of today. It
symbolized the purification of the bodies, when the seat
of the lower emotions, Scorpio, was covered by the
white sheepskin of purification. This symbol of his
purification was the. most precious belonging of the
ancient Pharaoh ; and this plain insignia, worn by many
others below him in rank and dignity, but equal to him
in spiritual purification, was the most precious of all
things to the Priest King. There he sat, written upon
him in the words of the Initiate, the symbols of his
purification and mastery, a wise king of a wise people.
And it was through these Priest Kings that the Divine
worked, for they were of the order of Melchisedec.
Through them was formed that doctrine which degen-
eracy has not been able to entirely obliterate, which we
know as the divine right of kings — divine because
through spirituality and growth God was able to mani-
fest through them. They were conscious instruments
in the hands of a ready writer, willing and proud to do
the work of those with whom through knowledge and
truth they had attuned themselves.
But the time came, as in all nations, when selfishness
33 1 iQr =3 Eg
49
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3C3C
H
T/i£ Initiates of the Flame
The Sacred Scarab:
In this form the ancient Egyptians worshiped Khe-
pera, the rising Sun, and the sacred scarab was buried
with the dead as the symbol of resurrection. For as
the ^un rises from the darkness of night, so the divine
spirit rises from the body that is no more. The life is
eternal.
iff
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50
a« »Q' — ^;
77z£ Egyptian Initiate
and egotism entered the heart of king and people alike,
and slowly the hand from the Great White Brotherhood
that fed ancient Egypt was withdrawn, and the powers
of darkness transformed the land of glory into one of
ruins, and the names of mighty kings were buried
beneath the oblivion of degeneracy. Mighty cataclysms
shook the world, and out of the land of darkness the
Great White Brotherhood carried the chosen people into
the promised land; Egypt, the land of glory, 'disinte-
grated into dust.
The great temples of the Pharaohs are ruins, and the
temples of Isis are but broken heaps of sandstone. But
what of the priest kings who labored there in the days
of its glory? They are still with us, for those who
were leaders before are leaders now, if they have con-
tinued to walk the path. Although his sceptre is gone,
and his priestly vestments have moulded away, the
Priest King still walks the earth with the dignity and
the power and the childish simplicity that before made
him great. He no longer wears the robes of his order.
Although he bears no credentials, he is as much a priest
king now as then, for he still bears the true insignia of
his rank. The coiled serpent has given place to knowl-
edge and love. The hand that bestowed the riches of
the past does little acts of kindness now. Although he
no longer carries the sceptres of self-mastery, still he
manifests that mastery in his daily life. Although the
altar fires within the temple at Karnac have long been
dead, the true fire within himself still burns, and before
that he still bows as he bowed in the days of Egypt's
SI1 »@r — »E
51
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ra
r/z^ Initiates of the Flame
glory. Although the priest no longer is his counsellor,
and the wise ones of his country no longer aid him in
governmental problems, still he is never alone, for the
priests in white and the counsellors in blue still march
with him and whisper words of strength when he needs
them.
Have you seen people that somehow you liked regard-
less of appearances? Have you seen other charming
people whom you hated in spite of their charms ? Have
you seen learned people who were fools or impressed
you as such, or people who knew little and yet you felt
were wise? Those are the insignia of rank, which the
loss of title or position cannot destroy. Kings with or
without crowns they were — not puppets dressed in taw-
dry tinsel. And they still are kings and will be to the
end of time, and they still manifest their rank, not by
their superiority, and their high-headedness, but by the
soul qualities which they radiate from themselves. The
purity of their lives still radiates outward from those
who wore the apron of the Initiate, for while that trian-
gular apron with its serpent drawn upon it has long
since rotted away, still the spiritual counterpart of that
symbol radiates in their daily lives, proving beyond all
dispute that they were Priest Kings and are today.
We find them in every walk of life — in high places and
down in the mire of life. But wherever we find them,
they are still the mouthpieces of the gods, and through
them comes the promise to all who strive. They are
kings, not of the earth but of heaven, and in the life of
our own Master we find one who joined himself to those
m
52,
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The Egyptian Initiate
who served, and was a true King even when his only
crown was a wreath of thorns.
Still in the pyramid of Gizeh, the initiations continue ;
still the Initiate receives the insignia of his rank. Be-
fore that Fire within himself he makes his vows, and
upon the burning altar of his own higher being he lays
his crown and his sceptre, his robes and his diamonds,
his hates and his fears, and sanctifies his life as a
Priest King, and swears to serve none but his own
higher self, the god within. His robes are his soul
body ; and his crown is his life, and in the streets of life
he is enthroned. The dusky towers and factory chim-
neys around him fade into the templed pillars of Luxor,
and with a lunch pail on his arm, his face brown with
honest dirt, he is as much a king as when the crown of
the double Nile rested upon his brow, and the priest
of the temple made him one with his God and his
fellowman.
Jfi
53
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DKZBC
H
The Initiates of the Flame
The Priest before the Ark of the Covenant,
and the Spirit over the Mercy Seat.
in"
3^C
54
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ro 'Q«= =»i^i
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Initiates
of the Flame
CHAPTER V.
THE ARK OF THE COVENANT
One of the most interesting symbols that has come
down to us from the ancients is that of the Ark, or the
box that was said to contain the sacred relics. Many
people believe that this belongs particularly to the
Jewish nation, but this is a great mistake, because it
has been the birthright of every country to have the
Ark. All have, like the Jewish people, lost much of
their power and glory when they lost the sacred Ark.
In ancient Chaldea and Phoenicia the Ark was well
known. India celebrates it as the Lotus, and the an-
cient Egyptians tell how the moon god Osiris was im-
prisoned in an ark. In all the Mystery Religions of the
world, individually and cosmically, the ark represents
the fountain-head of wisdom. Over it the Shekinah's
glory hovers, as a column of flames by night and a
pillar of smoke by day. Every country has seen and
felt its presence when the Priest Kings and Initiates
bring out of an old civilization, lost because of crys-
tallization, the sacred Ark, and surrounded by those
J3< iQl- upfi
55
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iffl
The Initiates of the Flame
faithful to the truth carry it into other lands and among
other peoples.
In every creed and religion we find crystallization.
We find small groups of people separating themselves
from their brother man. We find those who, clinging
to the old, refuse to advance with the new, and when-
ever we find this crystallization, we find the spirit of
truth carried away to other people and embodied in
other doctrines. The ancient Ark of the Israelite never
had removed from it the staves by which it was carried
and moved, until finally it was placed in Solomon's
temple. Neither does the spirit fire in man rest until
finally it is enthroned in the holy place of his solar
temple. Ever towards the rising sun its bearers carry
this sacred truth.
Nations are born of those who love the truth, and are
buried when they forget it. The time has come when
its silent bearers have taken the sacred Ark and the
Shekinah's glory, and in solemn file have moved across
the waters and brought it to the new world. The call
has sounded through the universe, and those who are
true to their own higher principles have surrounded
the sacred chest. Those who have sworn alliance to
their own higher being are following the priests and
their sacred burden, and a beautiful mystery temple is
being built in this beautiful land of ours, loved and
guarded by those who are laboring for humanity. The
staves are still in the Ark, however, and only when real
good can be done by it will it remain.
*fi
56
S1
!T/z<? z4r & of the Covenant
The opportunity is now confronting the Western
World. The knowledge of the ancients, the wisdom of
the ages is knocking at the door and seeking those who
will follow it. The bearers of the Ark have stopped
and are gathering a nucleus of spiritual souls to carry
on their work, and whether or not the word of the Lord
will remain with a nation depends upon its own actions,
and the actions of a nation are the collective actions of
its individuals. If it finds nothing here attuned to
itself, if it finds few that will answer to its call, the
call of service and brotherhood, then will its priests lift
again the staves and the sacred work will go out into
other lands.
The life of a country thus gone, like the ancient city
of the Golden Gate it will be swallowed up in oblivion.
The call is sounding, and those who love the Truth and
think and care for the Light must join that band of
servers who have for centuries dedicated themselves
to the preservation of Truth. Their lives they have
given a thousand times, their happiness has been second
to their duty. They are the keepers of the sacred
Word, and the law of attraction draws to them all who
love and live the Truth. A great influx of spiritual
light comes to those who live the life and have learned
the doctrine, and regardless of clan or country they
have joined the silent file of watchers and workers
around the sacred Ark of the Covenant. Every indi-
vidual by his daily actions is expressing more plainly
than by words his ideals, his desires, and his attitude
towards this great work. The composite attitude of a
57
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3K-2c
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The Initiates of the Flame
n
X
2E
J>JAL^II
The Rod that Budded, the Pot of Manna, and the Tab-
lets of the Law:
In these three things contained within the Ark we
see the threefold spirit contained within the ark of
man's bodies.
m
ifi
The Ark of the Covenant
certain number of people either shuts out or lets in the
light. Therefore every individual has a great duty, a
great work has to be done, and to that the true student
must dedicate his life. Then wherever he may go,
whatever he may do, he is being led, and the Shekinah's
glory directs his footsteps.
In the brain of man, between the wings of the kneel-
ing cherubim, is the mercy seat, and there man speaks
with his God as the priest of the tabernacle spoke to the
spirit of the Lord hovering between the wings of the
Angels. Man is again the Ark, and within him are the
three principles, the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit — the tablets of the law, the pot of manna, and
the rod that budded. But as in the case of the ancient
Israelites, when they became crystallized the pot of
manna and the rod that budded were removed from
the Ark, and all that was left were the tablets or the
letters of the law. When the individual crystallizes and
excludes various sidelights from his mind, he excludes
the life force which was flowing to him. In shutting
out strangers, he shuts out his own life, and all that he
has left are the tablets of the law, the material reasons
from which the spiritual life has gone.
Solomon's temple, or the perfected temple of the
human body, the perfected temple of the universe and
the perfected temple of the soul, finally forms the per-
fect shrine for the living Ark. There at the head of a
great cross it is placed, and there in man it becomes
permanently fixed. The staves of polarity upon which
it was carried are removed, and it becomes a living
iff
59
r/z^ Initiates of the Flame
thing, a permanent place where man converses with his
God. There man, the purified priest, arrayed in the
robes of his order, the garments of his soul, converses
with the spirit hovering over the Mercy Seat. This
Ark within is always present, but man can only reach
it after he has passed through the outer court of the
Tabernacle, after he has passed through all the degrees
of initiation, and after he has taken the Third Degree
and becomes a Grand Master. Then and then only can
he enter into the presence of his Lord, and there in the
darkened chamber, lighted by the jewels of his own
breast plate, he converses with the Most High, the true
spiritual essence within himself.
We are working towards this, and the time will come
when each person for himself will know the mystery of
the Ark, when the student through purification shall be
led through the door of the Holy of Holies and there be
enveloped by the Light of Truth. This was his birth-
right which he sold for a mess of pottage. "To this end
came he into the world that he might bear witness to
this truth, that through this light all men might be
saved." The Ark, that great spiritual principle, sur-
rounded by its loving workers, is calling all to follow it.
When through materiality and degeneracy a great
people are destroyed or a continent sinks beneath the
ocean, then those that are true are called around the
Ark, and as its faithful servers are led out of the land
of darkness into the new world and a promised paradise.
All great teachings set forth the same thing. The
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The Ark of the Covenant
student will find that it is true, and when he allies him-
self with the powers of light, when he becomes a chan-
nel for its expression, and when he radiates it from
himself to all who need it, then indeed will the Light
protect him and he shall become a Sun of God.
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The tjoly Grail:
See in this cup your own body within which is the
life blood of the Sun Spirit of the Universe. Each day
that we live we perpetuate the Last Supper, and in all
that we do we drink again the blood of Christ, the life
power of the Cosmos.
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CHAPTER VI.
KNIGHTS OF THE HOLY GRAIL
Before starting to take up the study of the Grail
legends, it will be well for all who are interested to read
those tales that are now listed under the heading of
children's fairy stories. For example the story of good
King Arthur and his Round Table is a cosmic myth,
and while there is little doubt that he as a man also
lived, the real mystery as in the story of the Christ, is
not the literal tale, but the great mystic or occult truth
that it concealed under allegory and parable. It is the
same with the story of Parsifal which can never be
really understood and appreciated until the student
sees in the Knight and later King of the Sacred Cup,
his own spiritual development and the temptations he
must also master if he would become a King of the
Grail.
In Lohengrin also the same truth is shown to the
world. It is the path of Initiation along which each
must pass on his road to self-mastery. To every nation
and in every tongue sacred legends have been given to
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The Stone and the Sword:
WHOEVER CAN DRAW THIS SWORD FROM
THIS STONE IS THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE.
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teach man the path he must follow. The blind Homer
of the Greeks who told of the wanderings of Ulysses
gave the same great truths to the world. The Scalds
of ancient Norway and Sweden and the Prophets of the
Jews used the same means, and everywhere from the
Sacred Books of the East to the legends of the Amer-
ican Indians we find one great connected truth told to
many different people in ways that were best suited
for their development.
Such a truth is the legend of the Round Table, given
to King Arthur as a wedding gift. All true students
know what wedding that was. Not of earth but the
wedding of the Spiritual and Intellectual within the
Initiate himself, when the spirit and the body are
united eternally, each swearing to honor and protect
the other. Of such a marriage was the union of Arthur
and Guinevere in the legend of the King.
Let us first of all consider the coming of Arthur the
King. We read in the legend of Arthur regarding
Merlin the Magician, the wise man who it is said had
charge of the coming King during his youth. Merlin
represents the hand of the Elder Brothers, who real-
izing that a great ego had come into the world, had
consecrated themselves to the work of preparing him
for his mission.
It was under the direction of Merlin, the master
mind, that the anvil and stone with the sword thrust
into it were raised in the square of the city when it
became necessary for a new king to be selected. It
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Rosicrucian Rose:
In this flower, which was painted upon the center of
King- Arthur's Table, we see the soul of man, which
through purification and service has blossomed out with
all the grandeur of the Initiate.
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The Knights of the Holy Grail
was he also who called all of the brave knights of the
country and told them that the one who could draw
forth the sword would be king of all the land. And of
all the knights in the land, Arthur the half -grown boy
was the only one who could release the sword.
There is a very wonderful mystery of the soul con-
tained within that divine allegory. Let us read the
letters that were engraved upon the sword. "WHO SO
PULLETH OUT THIS SWORD OF THIS STONE AND
ANVIL IS RIGHT-WISE KING BORN OF ENG-
LAND."
The cube stone is the body ; it has been so symbolized
for centuries, and today among the Masons the Ashler
is the symbol of Man. Experience is the anvil, and it is
upon this anvil that the sword is tempered. The sword
is spirit, and he who would be King in the true spiritual
sense of the word must first show his divine power by
freeing the Sword of Spirit from the casings of the
lower man and the world.
It is the same symbol as that later used by Sir Gal-
ahad, the guileless knight, the personification of the
purified man, who comes without a sword but who later
arms himself with the sword of spirit that he draws
from the cube block which was floating down the river
(of life) past Camelot. Sir Galahad had the strength
of ten because his heart was pure, and the Knight of
today must follow in the same path.
If you have read the story of King Arthur, you will
remember how he was given Excalibur, the enchanted
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The Sacred Spear:
This is the spear of Passion that pierces the side of
the Christ, the higher principle in man. But when in
the hand of the pure of heart this power can heal the
very wound it caused.
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sword, how it came up out of the water held by a hand
draped in white. Excalibur represents light and truth,
which is the weapon of the true Initiate. ^
In England there still hangs on a courthouse wall the
Round Table of King Arthur. In the very center of
the table is a beautiful rose painted in natural colors.
This symbol is that of the Rosicrucians, the ancient
alchemists, and there is a direct connection between
the legend of the British King and the ancient phil-
osophers of fire.
Now let us turn our attention for a moment to the
history of the Holy Grail, or the cup from which Christ
drank at the Last Supper and which was said to have
caught his blood when he was dying upon the cross.
Ancient legends tell us that this cup was made from a
sacred stone which had been the crown jewel of Lucifer,
the dynamic energy of the universe. It was said that
the green stone had been struck from the crown of
Lucifer by the archangel Michael during the famous
battle in heaven.
After the death of Christ it is said that Joseph of
Arimathea took the sacred cup and the spear of the
Passion and carried them into a distant land. He wan-
dered with his sacred relics through Europe and is said
to have finally died, and those who came after him after
many centuries of tribulation carried the sacred relics
to Mount Salvart in northern Spain where they re-
mained until Parsifal finally took the grail and spear
back to the East where it is to be now preserved.
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The Initiates of the Flame
It is around this cup and spear that the legends of
Parsifal and King Arthur have been written, and it is
through study of this fact that we are able to better
understand the mystery of the Great White Lodge of
which the Round Table of Arthur and the circular
temple of the knights of the Grail is a symbol.
Although we no longer have the cup as a physical
symbol, it is not gone from among us, and as in the
days of old the brave knights of the Round Table went
out to fight for right, so those knights of today who
belong to the Great White Brotherhood go out into the
world in the name of truth and labor with mankind and
seek to right the wrongs of the world. It is said that
the knights of Arthur's court always fought for virtue
and purity, and so did those who rode out of Mount
Salvart.
The grail cup is the symbol of the creative force of
nature; it is also the symbol of the human race which
is slowly learning the mysteries of creation. Within
the cup is the blood of Christ, that force which is trans-
muting the body into soul, fast or slowly as we give it
greater or lesser opportunity.
In the sacred spear we find symbolized again the
creative force, which in the hands of Klingsor, the evil
one, wounds and causes suffering, but which when held
by the pure Parsifal heals the very wound that it
caused.
A great lesson is being taught to man through these
allegories, but the average person is unwilling to stop
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The Knights of the Holy Grail
and consider them. They do not realize that they them-
selves are the ones whom the Elder Brothers of human-
ity must use in the fight against the forces of evil.
They do not realize that the dragons and ogres of the
legends are their own lower natures which they must
overcome. They do not see in the hand to hand combat
of the knights of old for a lady's hand the higher and
lower man fighting for the soul within.
The knight of today does not realize that the white
armor that he wears is his own purified body which is
proof against all the attacks of vice and passion, but
nevertheless this is the meaning of the legend. His
shield is truth, which is a perfect protection to the
inner man. His strong right arm is the knowledge and
spiritual power he has developed within, and the sword
that he uses is the spiritual light with which the pure
flame of the spirit fire dispels the darkness of ignorance
and the demons of lust.
The sacred spear and the cup which he serves are the
two poles of the creative life force within, the develop-
ment of which he gains as he daily serves his fellow
men.
Far from the uninitiated the twelve Elder Brothers
of mankind sitting around the circular table of the uni-
verse watch the knights in their battle of life, and the
time comes when the student having finished his work
here is liberated at the foot of the Grail. There the
candidate stands robed from head to foot in the armor
of spirit and in the pure white of a body that has been
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The Initiates of the Flame
cleansed. Then the cloth is lifted from the sacred cup,
and he is illuminated by the light which would have
killed him had he seen it without purification. He then
takes his place among the knights of the Round Table,
and joins those who give up all and labor for humanity.
When in sickness and in suffering we beg of the great
unknown that he send us help, then indeed our knight
comes to us as Lohengrin came to Elsa. When our
loved ones pass into the great unknown, there stands
the brother of the Grail, the invisible helper, who
through days of labor has earned the right to become
a member of that great band of servers who gather
around the table of the King, and while their bodies are
asleep still labor in their great search for light and
truth, and pray for the day when they shall also become
Kings of the Holy Grail.
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CHAPTER VII.
THE MYSTERY OF THE PYRAMID
There comes a time in the development of the occult
student when he understands one of the great secrets
of the Initiates, and that is that every sacred thing out-
side of himself stands for some organ or function
within himself. This is, of course, true in the case of
the Great Pyramid, except that this particular pile of
stone said by many to be the oldest building on the
surface of the earth, is the great symbol of composite
man. In other words it stands for man as a unit.
Let us first consider it simply from the exterior
standpoint. When we first look at it in the distance it
seems to be one great stone, but as we come closer we
see that it is made of thousands of smaller stones, each
one carefully fitted into place. Here we see the first
likeness between the pyramid and man. We consider
man to be a unit, but when we examine more closely,
we find that he is a great number of small units, each
working in harmony with the others. It Is the same
with everything. We take a successful life and we
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HOD SPIRIT
Cross Section of tne Great Pyramid of Gizak.
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77?<? Mystery of the Pyramids
think of it as an entirety, but when we examine it, we
find that it is a number of small achievements joined
together.
As thousands of workmen were used in the building
of the pyramid, so there are unnumbered workmen at
work in the building of our bodies, which are symbolical
of the same building.
There are many pyramids all over the world. We
find them in South America and in Mexico; we find
mounds which were made to represent them among
the American Indians, and in Europe and Britain we
find remnants of the same things. But there is only
one real pyramid in all the world. Even the others in
Egypt are but copies of the Great Pyramid, and were
used as tombs for the Pharaohs, but nobody was ever
found in Cheops, nor were there ever any signs that it
had been so used.
Now let us continue our analogy between the pyramid
and man. If you will look at the accompanying illustra-
tion, you will see the pyramid laid flat, and you will
notice it is made of four triangles laid around the bast
square. The four-sided base of the pyramid represents
the four elements of which man's bodies are composed.
These are hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and carbon, or
earth, water, fire, and air. These are called the base of
all things, and upon this base the four bodies of man
are raised, each from its own element. Thus the phys-
ical body is raised from the earth. The vital body is
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The Initiates of the Flame
The Pyramid:
Here we see the pyramid laid out so that the four
triangles and the square are clearly seen. This repre-
sents man once again, and the ancient Pyramid is man
offering his higher being upon the altar of the Great
Fire Spirit.
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raised from the water, the emotional body from the
fire, and the mental body from the air.
There are twelve lines used in the drawing of the
four triangles, which stand for the twelvefold constitu-
tion of man when it is complete: the threefold body,
the threefold mind, the threefold soul, and the threefold
spirit. It also gives us the twelve signs of the zodiac,
divided into their respective groups.
Out on the desert stands the Sphinx, the Guardian of
the Threshold mentioned by Bulwer Lytton. It stands
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The Sphinx:
This is that mysterious being suspended 'twixt
heaven and earth, which has the head of a human being
and the body of an animal. In other words the Sphinx
symbolizes man.
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The Mystery of the Pyramids
for the bodies of man, and is that strange being which
must be passed before the student can go on in his
development. The four fixed signs of which the Sphinx
is a symbol are Taurus the Bull, Leo the Lion, Scorpio
the Eagle, and Aquarius the Man, or the human head.
iff
I have already given you some work on the sacrum
bone, and I told you that it was the grave digger's
spade. Here is a picture of the head of the Sphinx, and
the inverted sacrum bone when it has been turned up-
ward. We see the Sphinx in the inverted sacrum and
also in it the inverted Masonic keystone. All this is
very interesting, but unless we realize the inner mean-
ing of it, its true value is lost. But it is not chance that
these things should be so.
You have most of you heard of the Dweller on the
Threshold, that creature built by our own actions and
mistakes. Well out on Egypt's desert it stands and
bars the way to the pyramid, the temple of the higher
man. And the message that it gives to the world is :
"I am the bodies. If you would go on to the temple
you must master me, for I am within you."
The Sphinx again symbolizes man, with the mind and
spirit of the human rising out of the animal desires and
emotions. It is the riddle of the ages, and man is once
more the answer.
It is said that in ancient times the Sphinx was the
gateway of the pyramid, and that there was an under-
ground passage which led from the Sphinx to Cheops.
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The Initiates of the Flame
This would make the symbolism even more perfect, for
the gateway to the spirit is through the bodies accord-
ing to the ancients.
Let us now enter the pyramid and passing through
the corridors come to the King's Chamber as it is
called. There are three great rooms in the pyramid
which are of great interest to the student. The highest
is the King's Chamber, then below that is the Queen's
Chamber, and down below the surface of the earth is
the Pit. Here we again find the great correlation be-
tween the pyramid and man. The three rooms are the
three great divisions in man which are the seats of the
threefold spirit. The lower room is the generative sys-
tem under the control of Jehovah. The center room or
Queen's Chamber is the heart, under the control of the
Christ ; and the upper room or the King's Chamber i's
the brain, which is under the control of the Father. In
this upper room is the coffer made of stone, the mean-
ing of which has never been explained, but which the
student recognizes as the third ventrical in the brain.
It is quite certain also that this coffer was used as a
tomb during initiation, when as is the case in the
Masonic initiations of today, (which are the remnants
of the ancient mysteries) the candidate was buried in
the earth and resurrected, a symbol of the death of the
lower man and the liberation of the higher.
It is said that Moses was initiated in the Great Pyra-
mid, and some also say that Jesus was instructed there
also. Be that as it may, we know that for thousands
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The Mystery of the Pyramids
of years since the time it was built by the Atlanteans
it has been the greatest temple of Initiation in the
world. It seems also that its work is not yet done, for
mutely it is teaching those who will see the mysteries
of creation.
It is said by many that it is the original Solomon's
Temple, but this we know is not true, for while it may
be the first and original material temple, the true tem-
ple of Solomon is the universe, the Solarman's temple,
which is slowly being rebuilt in man as the temple of
the Soul of Man.
There is probably no point that is as important in
connection with the pyramid as that of the corner
stone. On the very top of the great pyramid is a com-
paratively flat place about thirty feet square. In other
words the TRUE STONE WHICH IS THE HEAD OF
ALL THE CORNERS IS MISSING. If we look at the
reverse side of the United States seal, we find again
the pyramid from which the top is separated. Omar
Khayyam, the Persian Poet, gives us the secret of the
keystone when he says :
"From my base metal shall be filed a key,
Which shall unlock the door he howls without."
The value of the stone is better understood when you
understand that it completes all of the triangles at
once, and without it none of them are complete.
This stone is the spirit in man, which fell from its
high position, and has been lost beneath the rubbish of
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W
The Key and the Cross:
Upon the cross of matter that forms our bodies,
hangs the key to all the mysteries of creation. It is
our duty to take this key and with it unlock the door
that conceals from us the unknown. This key is the
spirit. Release it.
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T/ie Mystery of the Pyramids
the lower man. This is the true cap stone that is now
hidden in the pit of man's temple, and which he must
exhume and place again as the true crown of his spirit-
ual pyramid.
He can only do this when he calls the thousands of
workmen within himself together and binds them to the
service of the higher man. There must be no traitors
to murder the builder this time. And Lucifer, the one
rejected by man as the devil, is the one who must
through the planet Mars send man the dynamic energy
which man himself must transmute from the fire of
passion to the flame of spirit. He then must take the
tools of the craft and cut and polish his own being into
the cap stone of the Universal Temple.
It is interesting to note how the casing stones that
once made the pyramid so beautiful and true were car-
ried away to build the cities nearby, and in connection
with that it is interesting to note how the soul body of
man, the casing stones of his spiritual temple, have
been sacrificed in order that he might have material
things.
As we look at pictures of the ancient pyramid and
Sphinx which have stood on Egypt's sands for ages, let
us see in them our own mystery temple, made without
the sound of hammer or the voice of workman. And
as we sadly think of this mighty ruin, broken by ages
of neglect, let us remember our temple, and that its
corner stone is missing also and our walls are falling
with neglect. Let us learn the lesson which it teaches,
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hasten to perfect our pyramid, cap it with the stone of
spirit, offer upon its altars our sacrifice to the Great
Sun Spirit, and bury our lower nature in its ancient
coffer. Then for us will its mysteries be revealed, and
the sealed lips of the Sphinx give up their secret.
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WfHERE TOUR
TREASURE IS,
THERE WILL TOUR
HEART BE ALSO.
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THE WHITE GRAIL
Choose now your path
K
Service.
Self Sacrifice.
Purification.
Love.
Study,
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THE BLACK GRAIL
Choose now your path
Prosperity at others expense.
Selfishness.
Short-cuts.
Mastered by appetite.
Comfort.
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